


the one with the flowers

by padfootsotter



Category: The Haunting of Hill House (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, I am not kidding, word vomit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-18 18:34:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16522433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootsotter/pseuds/padfootsotter
Summary: Since they first met she’s always given him flowers, trying to convey her feelings to him. A look through the various stages of their relationship.





	the one with the flowers

_i. the yellow rose; joy, friendship, new beginnings_

They’ve been best friends since he could first remember. She was the sweet girl who lived next door who gave his mother a single yellow rose while her brother handed him a tray full of brownies to welcome them to the neighbourhood.

She watched as the boy with the glasses that made him fascinating look at the yellow rose with wide eyes.

“I’ve never seen a rose that colour before!” Luke exclaimed out but quickly began to quiet down as Steve nudged his back.

She furrowed her brows and shook it off, she smiled brightly at the boy in front of her, “If you want I can give you another flower and you can keep it if you want!” She was on the balls of her feet practically jumping up and down.

“Really?” The same enthusiastic tone and smile made its way back on his face and he looked to his mom who was watching with a small smile at the scene in front of her.

“Go ahead, Luke, just come back before dinner.”

 

“Let’s go,” she called out enthusiastically, she pulled him along to the garden behind her house. “We have so many roses, my mom loves them so much.” She explained as Luke saw the bushes that were all along the garden. There were so many colours, all of them so vibrant, all the time during his young life he has never seen so many colours.

“Here we are,” she looked at all the yellow roses in front of her, looking for the brightest and healthiest. Pulling out some small shears from her overall pockets, she pinched a rose and cut it at the stem. “Be careful, I can’t cut the thorns as well as my mommy.” She handed him the rose and watched as the boy in front of her cradle the rose gently, in fear of crushing it.

“Thank you so much!” Luke spoke sincerely, he looked at the rose, it was so pretty. “I’m going to keep it forever.”

“You can’t keep flowers forever, silly,” she teased. “They eventually die out but that’s okay.”

He looked confusedly at her, “Then what’s the point of having flowers?”

“It’s a fantastic feeling seeing something so pure and bright near you isn’t it? It makes you feel so happy inside, right?” At her question, Luke nodded. “They may not last long but it’s a good feeling when you’re there to appreciate them at their moment.”

Luke nodded at her, still not quite understanding her words. He wanted to be nice though, she looked as lovely as the rose when she talked about flowers.

“Well, I’m going to keep it forever,” Luke spoke out and saw the smile appear on her face. Wide and as bright as the flower he held in his hand.

 

* * *

 

 

_ii. the yellow hyacinth; jealousy_

“You know that your room awfully looks cheery for someone who looks so glum,” Theo remarked as she walked around (Y/N)’s room, picking things up and putting them down.

The girl in question looked at her friend and then went back to her homework, “What do you mean, Theo?”

She sat down on her friends bed and plucked the pen from her hand, which caused an outburst from (Y/N). Theo watched as her friend rolled her eyes and picked up another pen from her pencil case.

“Why do you have  a bunch of yellow flowers everywhere?” Theo gestured to the various vases in her room that held the flowers.

“They had a sale,” (Y/N) responded back, never missing a beat.

“Oh?” Theo questioned. “So it doesn’t have to do anything with that new exchange girl named Joey?” A smirk appeared on her face as she saw (Y/N) grasped her pen tighter. “The fact that my idiot of a brother is currently spending his time with her?”

(Y/N) waited a few beats before she answered, “He has his own life, he can choose whomever he wants to spend it with.”

Theo rolled her eyes at her friends typical response, always the one to repress her emotions, and that was saying something coming from her. “You’ve been practically attached at the hip since we moved here five years ago, (Y/N). It’s always you and Luke, never one with the other.”

“High school changes people,” (Y/N) spat out.

 

 

“I was over at (Y/N)’s the other day and she had all these weird flowers around her room,” Theo piped up one night at dinner.

Her words caught her mothers attention and veered the conversation to Theo. “Weird flower?”

Theo shrugged and grabbed the flower she stole sneakily from (Y/N) earlier that day and placed it on the table.

“You stole it?” Steve accused Theo, as he narrowed his eyes at his sister.

She rolled her eyes, “Chill, her room was practically filled with it, she won’t miss it.” For a couple of minutes no one said anything, Theo finding the flower on the table fun to fiddle with.

“That’s funny,” her mother finally spoke. “Yellow Hyacinths usually mean jealousy.”

“I wonder why (Y/N) has that all over her room,” Theo piped up, looking over to Luke who was now focused on the mashed potatoes on his plate. “I mean, with her love for flowers surely she knew what that meant.”

Olivia who saw what her daughter was doing slowly smiled and caught Hugh’s eyes as it crinkled with amusement. “I do wonder that.”

“Luke,” Theo called out at her brother who now accidentally clattered his fork on the plate loudly, causing Theo to roll her eyes. “You and (Y/N) are always together, is there some guy that she likes that isn’t spending time with her?”

He looked towards Nellie who usually had his back but tonight she uncharacteristically leaned away from him and shared a look with Steve on the other side of the table. He cleared his throat once, then twice, “I don’t think so.” Luke tried to capture anyone’s gazes to save him, but apparently everyone either thought that the tablecloth was too fascinating, or was unspokenly on Theo’s side. “At least she hasn’t told me anything. We haven’t been spending a lot of time together.”

Theo’s eyes widened and she hit her hand on the table excitedly then snapped her fingers, “That’s right! You’ve been hanging out with that new girl haven’t you? I mean I never see the two of you together anymore these days.”

“What does that have to do with me and Joey?” Luke bit out. “(Y/N) is my friend, she’s happy for me that I found someone!”

After she said those words, Theo’s demeanor completely changed and gone was the fake act she was putting up. “Maybe that’s why she hasn’t told you anything because you literally don’t spend time with your best friend and instead ditching her to play hooky with the new girl.” Theo snapped at her brother she was about to say more until she felt her father’s hand on her arm, squeezing it softly letting her know that she shouldn’t go too far.

Tension built up between the two siblings as they stared at each other, it was only broken when Steve asked, “So does (Y/N) like someone?”

Theo gave her brother an incredulous look, shaking her head, “I’m not sure. If he does poor guy should get his head into gear otherwise he might lose her forever,” Theo clicked her tongue then went back to her dinner like the past ten minutes just didn’t happen.

* * *

 

 

_iii. the purple hyacinth; sorrow, please forgive me, i’m sorry_

Luke paced back and forth at the back gate, he knew that her parents and siblings were gone for the weekend, gone for her brother’s football game and she was stuck at home because she had the flu.

He looked at the flowers in his hand that were shaking, he had to stop himself before the flowers lost all of its petal and he really didn’t want to hand his best friend a bouquet of stems.

“Oh my god, hurry up already!” He heard a voice yell over the fence, furrowing his brows he turned and saw Theo putting her hands up. “No one is getting younger, especially not me!”

Luke flipped off his sister and turned back around, he took a deep breath and let himself in. He hoped that (Y/N) didn’t think that he was an intruder and punched him. It was normal for them after all, to go to each other’s places without telling the other but given the last few weeks he wouldn’t be surprised if she ignored him and took back his right to come to her house.

Walking up the stairs he could hear the faint voice of Elle Woods, judging from what he just heard, Elle just arrived at Harvard. He smiled knowing that she was at least in good spirits, knowing that this movie always made her happy. Softly knocking on the door he heard her soft, ‘come in’.

“Hey,” Luke greeted, careful to make sure that the flowers were carefully hidden behind his back.

She gave him a small smile, reaching over to pause the movie, “Oh hey, Luke.” She patted the space next to her, “I didn’t think that I would see you here.”

His heart paused for a moment. Why would she think that? Every time either one of the was sick, the other was right there, next to them on the bed. Their parents would always throw a fit because the other would be sick the next week.

“I thought you would be with Joey, considering it’s the weekend,” (Y/N) reasoned out as he saw her friends confused look.

This time his heart didn’t pause, he swore his heart stopped beating as a sudden realization came over him. Did she really think that she would be second to someone else? A girl that he hasn’t even known for two weeks? Then his stomach dropped and his throat tightened as he realized that’s what he’s exactly been doing.

“You’re my first priority,” Luke sat down as he held her hand with his own. “You’ve always been my priority, that will never change.”

As her eyes felt too heavy, she looked around her room, her gaze falling on the now dying flowers inside the vase, the petals gathering around the base.

“I’m a fucking idiot,” Luke started. “I got caught up with things that weren’t important and I left the one person that means everything to me.” He pulled the flowers from behind his back and handed to her.

“Purple Hyacinth,” (Y/N) spoke as she held the flowers in her hand.

“I read that it meant ‘I’m sorry’, and ‘Please forgive me’. I don’t deserve your forgiveness but I need you to know that I am deeply sorry and that this will never happen again,” Luke blurted out. He continued saying his apologies, never seeing the small smile that adorned (Y/N)’s face, nor the way she smelt the flowers and the love filling her eyes. The only time he stopped was when she squeezed his hand.

“There’s nothing to forgive, Luke, we all do stupid things.”

“I don’t deserve you,” he commented as he took in the girl in front of him. Sick but still managing to emanate brightness and warmth.

“You really don’t, I mean no one deserves me, I’m fucking great,” she deadpanned. “Can you replace those flowers with these ones, please?” She pointed to the vase on her dresser and handed Luke the flowers.

He quickly did the task, eager to be near his best friend. Once done, he stood near her bed, only sitting when she patted the spot again.

“After this, we’re going to watch Clueless, okay?” She asked softly, her eyes feeling heavy as she leaned against Luke.

“Yeah,” Luke responded, glancing over to her. Her eyes were drooped down and her hand on top of his. “That’s okay.” It was at that moment that Luke knew that he could stay there forever with her.

 

* * *

 

_iii (part two). pink roses; love and gratitude_

The next week, when (Y/N) was feeling better, she was in high spirits as she stepped off the bus and quickly headed to her locker. Befuddled as she was greeted with Luke’s back instead of her locker.

“Luke?”

The boy in question  bumped his head on the locker and quickly turned around, hiding whatever it was behind his back.

“What are you doing?” (Y/N) questioned, she looked at behind the boy in front of her, “To my locker exactly?”

“Nothing,” Luke fidgeted on the spot, looking everywhere but her eyes.

“Luke,” at her tone he looked up at her and pulled the rose from behind him.

“It was supposed to be a surprise that’s why I came here so early but then Theo ran late, so I had to run here and try to put it in your locker,” Luke blabbered as he handed her the flower quite forcefully. “I had everything planned out but…”

“A pink rose,” she muttered and brought it up to her nose to smell. “It’s lovely, Luke.” She walked forwards and hugged him tightly, “Thank you.” A quick peck on his cheek, she scooted back, her attention on the rose.

A warm flush danced across his face, his face turned down so she couldn’t see. “I have to go,” Luke said regretfully. “I’ll see you, later, okay? The benches near the tree?”

At her nod and smile, he started walking down the hallway a bounce in his step, and him feeling more confident than before. As Luke walked, he brought a hand where she kissed his cheek and felt another flush coming on. Unknowingly, Luke walked down the hallway a stupid, doped up smile on his face.

 

“What was that?” Shirley asked as she and her sisters watched her brother walk down the hallway.

“That was,” Nellie started, “Cute.”

At the same time she answered, so did Theo, “Disgusting.”

 

“I heard that you gave (Y/N) a pink rose today,” his mom spoke out as he placed his bag on the kitchen table.

Luke casted his eyes down and a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. He suddenly found the frayed hem of his shirt fascinating and played with it instead of answering his mother.

“I think it’s lovely,” Olivia spoke softly. “Do you know what it means?”

“Gratitude for a friend,” Luke recited out, remembering the meaning from Nell’s book who borrowed it from (Y/N). He didn’t meet his mother’s eyes as he felt the other meaning bubbling up his throat. ”She deserves it, after all I put her through. I needed her to know that  **she’s my best friend, that hasn’t changed.**  It will never change.”

Olivia was quiet for a while and studied her son, “But **it’s clear your feelings has.** Do you know what the second meaning of that flower is, Luke?”

This time he looked at his mom, “Love.”

At her sons look, knowing the thoughts running through his head, she walked over to him and gave him a hug, stroking his hair softly much like she did when he was younger.

* * *

 

 

_iv. the red tulip; declaration of love_

Luke watched as his twin danced along the floor with her new husband. Just two hours before, he had to wipe away the tears when they both said their vows, his eyes continuously trying to find hers. Everytime their eyes met, she gave him a soft smile and turned her attention back to Nell and Arthur.

He watched as Arthur dipped down Nell, causing the woman to laugh, a smile appearing on his face. She deserved this, his sister was one of the best people that he knew and she deserved to be happy.

“They look so perfect together,” a voice broke him out of his thoughts and he looked to his right. “I swear to god I’ve cried more today than any other day.”

They both chuckled quietly but said nothing else, as they watched Nell and Arthur continue their first dance as husband and wife.

 

“You did a great job today,” Luke muttered as (Y/N) began to fiddle with her bouquet.  “The flowers looked gorgeous and everything else. How did you manage to do it?”

She gave him an amused smile, “I’m God, didn’t you know?”

He pushed her shoulder gently, eliciting a laugh from her. “I really don’t know. I don’t think I slept for the last five months to get everything done.”

“You outdone yourself, this is a wedding straight out of a storybook.”

“I want to give this to you,” (Y/N) spoke suddenly. Luke turned back his attention to her and watched as she pulled out one single red tulip from the bunch. “Tulips are usually associated with love, every single one of the colours have something to do with love.” She knew that she was rambling but she couldn’t stop the onslaught of words coming out of her mouth. She handed him the single flower gingerly. She gulped and forced herself to make eye contact with the man that has held her heart for twenty years.

“The red tulip symbolizes the declaration of love, true love, undying love. Legend has it that red tulips came to be when a Prince fell in love with a maiden and before he could declare his love for her, she died, so in sorrow he killed himself and with every drop of blood a red tulip came to be. There was another tale but the second one, the maiden didn’t reciprocate his love, and then he was overcome with grief that he killed himself,” when she finished her sentence, she realised that the story had nothing to do with what she was doing, and it actually brought a morbiD aura around them. “Fuck!”

“Okay,” she started again, frustrated. “I love you, Luke, I have for the longest time and it’s taking me this long because I’ve been too scared to admit what I feel for you. I’m not good with emotions and you know that, I convey them using flowers like a weirdo.” She licked her lips and smiled at him. “I love you and it’s cheesy that I’m confessing to you at a wedding but today I realised when Nell and Arthur were up there, there was only one person that I could see myself standing there with, you.

“I love you so much and that doesn’t scare me, it makes me so happy because I get to be in love with someone so wonderful and lovely as you,” she gave him another smile, and she knew that she looked like a loved up fool but she didn’t care. “So here I am, at a wedding, saying that I’m absolutely in love with my best friend and that I hope he loves me too.” She finished her speech with high hopes, her eyes shining under the moonlight.

Each passing moment that Luke just stood there and didn’t say anything to her, the hopes and the fire she had once was slowly dying. She could feel the happiness fading away, and the sorrow seeping in. Each moment was another stab at her already dying heart.

“Oh god,” she whispered, realisation hitting her finally. “What the fuck did I just do?” She looked at Luke who still hasn’t said anything, still holding the red tulip in her hand. She suddenly felt like the legendary Prince that felt the unreciprocated love. “I’m so sorry.” With that, she got up the bouquet falling on the floor, petals scattering everywhere and ran back inside.

 

* * *

 

_iv (part two). the ambrosia flower -returned love_

She didn’t expect much, after all he was Luke and she was, well her. They may have been best friends but that didn’t mean that they would end up together like in the stories. She knew logically, that there was a 50% chance that he didn’t feel the same way and that she misread his signs. Though in her heart, that fact didn’t help the hurt spreading.  

Walking around her floral shop, she busied herself by humming and making more bouquets, subconsciously grabbing all the flowers that meant sorrow and sadness together. About two bouquets later, she heard the chime of the bell and sighed to herself, placing the half-made bouquet on the counter, she stood up and greeted the customer.

“Hi, can I help you with anything?” (Y/N) greeted, then once taking into account on who it was, “Luke?”

“Uh hey,” he rubbed a nervous hand on his neck. “I thought you’d be here.”

She arched a brow, “You thought that I would be at work? It was a good guess, here I am.”

Luke chuckled quietly at her blunt humour and then took a couple of steps. “Listen…”

(Y/N) sighed and rolled her head, “Look, if you came here to tell me that you don’t feel the same way and you’re going to give me some nice speech to let me down, not to be rude but can you not?”

“(Y/N)…”

“Luke,” the way she spoke his name made him stop. “It’s okay, alright? I can’t force you how to feel about me and if you don’t reciprocate my feelings, then it’s okay.” She bit her lip and looked at her best friend standing there. “It hurts, I have to say but it’s going to pass, but I’m not going to make this big dramatic scene and I’m not going to move away or anything like that.”

He couldn’t help the laugh escape from his lips. She always did hate it when people did drastic things because they based their entire life on person and gambled it all away. She always made sure to point that out whenever they read a cheesy book, or watched a romantic comedy. Instead of crying at the big gestures, she rolled her eyes. That’s his girl.

“It’s good to know that you can laugh at my feelings, Luke. At least give a girl a couple of months before she’s laughing at her misery.”

He walked forwards to her, hugging her tightly, “You’re so stupid.” When she started sputtering and pushing him away, he pulled her closer and smiled. When he finally pulled away he was still grinning. “Here.” He pulled out a napkin and passed it to her.

“Luke, I know that we’re close and I professed my love for you and everything but that doesn’t give you the right to give me your used napkins.”

He smiled and just placed it in her hands, “Just fucking open it.”

She opened it with hesitation and instead of finding old ketchup stains on it, instead there was a hastily sketched, yet still beautiful flower in the middle.

“I didn’t immediately react because I was expecting to be the first to say that I love you and more than a friend way,” Luke started. “I wasn’t expecting you to say that to me because in my head, whenever I played out the scene you always rejected me, making me move across the world.” They both quietly chucked at his joke and he continued on.

“I was trying to find the perfect flower for you, to say that I love you because everything between us started because of a flower, you should have seen this spectacle that I was going to make, you would have loved it.” Another smile appeared on his face, “Then you, you gave me that fucking red tulip with the biggest smile and most hopeful eyes and you blew all that to pieces.” When she started to refute his comment, he quietly shushed her. “In a good way, that tulip is currently getting pressed by Shirley into a picture frame so I can preserve it forever.”

She gazed at the sketched flower in her hand and the man in front of her. Her words were jumbled in her mind and she tried so hard to find something to say, anything, but couldn’t.

Knowing that she was at lost for words, Luke continued. “I didn’t say anything because I was in shock but watching the look on your face from hopeful to despair killed me more than anything could ever had. I’m a fucking idiot for not chasing after you because I thought you needed space, and I’m a fucking idiot that I spent the next day instead of trying to find you, to try and find this flower and give it to you.”

“It is a hard flower to find,” she agreed. “Usually you would have to plant it yourself.”

“Now you fucking tell me,” they both shared a smile and it took everything in him not to kiss her right then. “Did I do the ambrosia flower justice then? I know that it’s not the real thing but if you want, I can plant it and we can wait and the moment that it blooms I can give it to you.”

She looked at the man in front of her, the man whom she gave her heart unknowingly twenty years ago and had her love returned all those times. Then she looked at the flower he had drawn that represented her love back and couldn’t help the tears in her eyes.

“It’s perfect, Luke,” she held the napkin in her hand and moved closer to him. “I love it,” she paused for a moment and looked at him. She could see it now, the love that he held for her in his eyes. “I love you.”

Luke let out a sigh of relief and then a chuckle, he pulled her closer, resting his hands on her hips, “I fucking love you so much.” Then he finally kissed her, after twenty years of knowing each other the two people who belonged with each other finally connected each others hearts.

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all, let me know what you think! i hope you like this because honestly this is a personal piece and probably my favourite story that i have ever written. 
> 
> don't forget prompts are open on my tumblr: @oursisthefvry


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